Mastering Ethereum: Building Smart Contracts and DApps 1st Edition

Good product

This appears to be a brand new book to me. No markings, no dog eared pages, no damage. This was an excellent deal for me and I am happy my my purchase.

Mastering Ethereum is a comprehensive introduction to Ethereum. It is meant for programmers but could be read by non-programmers as well.The writing is excellent with rich diagrams and explanations throughout. Andreas knows when to stress key points such as not exposing private keys. For any potential pitfalls there are plenty of warnings.One of the more interesting chapters was on Smart Contract Security (Chapter 9). There was a list of best practices and then code samples showing how contracts can be vulnerable if poor coding practices are used. By exposing issues with smart contracts the book presents a fully balanced view.The book is optimistic in tone, but not overly so. Chapters are well divided into sections and the book has a logical flow to it. It strikes the right balance between technical and text explanations.Comparing this to other resources out there on Ethereum, this is by far the best resource for getting into Ethereum. Video courses and the Ethereum documentation are useful, but this book goes beyond what you would expect.

This is a good starting resource for someone brand new to Ethereum, but it is already pretty out of date. As Ethereum 2.0 (supposedly) approaches, this will only become more outdated. Still recommended as a starting point though in the mean time.

Thinking of buying the book? Get excited. I love this book for its attitude and get-to-the-point precision. Most importantly the book offers a thoughtful and comfortable “flight path” to progressively learn the spectrum of Ethereum concepts in a logical order. I am not implying the concepts are easy, but your natural “what’s that?” questions will either be answered in the next paragraph or there will be a shorthand link for additional information. The feeling you get after reading chapters is wholesome but not bloated.Unlike the first 300,000 Ethereum developers and enthusiasts who learned the concepts piecemeal you can learn in a sequence that makes logical sense. I have this appreciation now simply because my Ethereum programming and technical learning was through brute force and in fragments.Key concepts that require depth (cryptography, transactions, and security) are covered fully. This book is a great companion for analysts, developers, technical architects and all cryptocurious minds.In the spirit of book’s focused literally style I am ending here with a recommendation to buy and #buidl.

The solidity examples are out-of-date. However, Solidity changes so much, the only source which is in-date are the Solidity docs. Instead of seeing the versioning as 0.4.x or 0.5.x, see it as 4.x or 5.x; makes more sense.I think one of the first things you'll realize when reading this book is how much more there is to Ethereum. For example, Ethereum is actually 3 layers(EVM/Smart contracts, Swarm, and Whisper) although 2 of the layers never get any mention.Dr. Gavin Wood is one of the founders of Ethereum and is the developer of Solidity. There is alot of information covered here which isn't anywhere else. Other books cover smart contract development, this book covers Ethereum.

If you're curious about Ethereum and smart contracts (as you should be), or if you already know a bit and want to learn more, this is a great purchase. If you're already a seasoned smart contract developer, I believe this book is still worth having in your collection.Andreas has a track record of excellent literature on cryptocurrency topics (Mastering Bitcoin) and is a prominent, trustworthy figure in the space so you can be confident in the legitimacy of this publication.You should be aware that the book is available for free in it's entirety on Github. All you need to do is a quick Google search for "Mastering Ethereum" and you should be able to find it very easily.100% recommendation without hesitation.

I've read and learned so much from Andreas book Mastering Bitcoin, and knew right away I would want to read Mastering Ethereum also. The book teaches beginners how to start using and interacting with the Ethereum blockchain, and then dives into Ethereum technology(cryptography, wallets, transactions) and finishes off with smart contracts and dapps. The book is well written, easy to follow and does a great job of providing additional reference for you to dive deeper in the material if interested.